


Being Rescued from Responsibility

by multifascinate (talkativelock)



Series: The Life and Times [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Abandonment, Adoption, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Characters as a Family, Angst, Child Tsukishima Akiteru, Child Tsukishima Kei, Computer Programmer Kozume Kenma, Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Missing Persons, Moving In Together, Security Guard Kuroo Tetsurou, Toddlers, Unreliable Narrator, parental neglect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 00:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12222294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talkativelock/pseuds/multifascinate
Summary: Over at the couch Kenma shoves a few action figures to the floor. They bounce once on the carpet before settling.“You’re the worst,” Kenma says as he gets comfortable on the couch where the action figures used to be, curled up with his feet tucked under him.Tetsurou chuckles. “You love me.”Kenma just smiles in response.In which Tetsurou is an asshole, Kenma wants this all to be over, and the Tsukishima brothers want to know when their mother is coming back.





	Being Rescued from Responsibility

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is late. It was really hard to write, especially for something that I already knew exactly what I was going to do for it. Combining that with real life nonsense and I am so very late. At least it's finally here.
> 
> Special thanks to my beta and fiance Dory. All remaining mistakes are mine.
> 
> Anyway, I love Kuroo Tetsurou. On with the show.

Shouyou goes tearing around the corner as fast as his little legs will take him. For a moment he almost slips, his legs kicking out and his tiny arms pinwheeling to the sound of his shrieking laughter, before he rights himself and keeps right on going. Tetsurou chases after him.

“I’m gonna get you,” Tetsurou calls in his best scary monster voice.

“No, Ojichan, no,” Shouyou laughs back, nearly biting it on his next turn. 

They round the corner and Shouyou runs straight into Koutarou where he crouches, laying in wait for this exact moment. Koutarou sweeps his son up into his arms and Shouyou screams his laughter. Expertly, Koutarou turns Shouyou upside down so that his tummy is exposed when Shouyou’s shirt falls away with gravity. He blows a raspberry just above Shouyou’s bellybutton. Shouyou shoves at Koutarou’s collar bone.

“Touchan!” Shouyou’s high voice draws out the syllables as his wiggles in Koutarou’s grip.

Tetsurou approaches with the lazy, sure steps of someone who has done his job magnificently.

“Do you give up?” Koutarou asks Shouyou when he comes up to breathe. 

“No,” Shouyou responds.

Koutarou dives back in for another raspberry and Shouyou’s high pitched laughter bounces off the walls.

Suddenly, the front door to the apartment opens. Tetsurou perks up at the thought that Kenma might finally be done with work but the person who walks in is not Kenma, it’s Akaashi.

“Who is murdering my son?” Akaashi asks, his face completely neutral.

“Otousan, save me from the monsters,” Shouyou laughs. Koutarou has stopped blowing raspberries and is instead walking over to Akaashi with Shouyou still held upside down by his hips. When Koutarou reaches Akaashi he gives him a chaste kiss.

“If you insist,” Akaashi intones, taking Shouyou from Koutarou and turning him right side up.

“Welcome home, Keiji,” Koutarou says, smiling.

Tetsurou isn’t sure where to look. He’s never sure where to look when these things happen.

For Tetsurou and Kenma their relationship is the slowest moving molasses. It’s like tectonic plates, moving towards each other over the course of thousands of years in a way that cannot be avoided or stopped. On one hand, the inevitability is comfortable. Kenma has never really looked at anyone but Tetsurou and Tetsurou never treated anything seriously until Kenma. There’s a certain amount of security in that. On the other hand, Tetsurou just wants to reach that place where when Kenma comes home Tetsurou can be waiting for him.

Instead, he still lives with his mother at twenty-three while genius Kenma bought a house last year after landing a high paying job at a tech company. Sure, Tetsurou spends almost all of his time at Kenma’s but it’s not the same as living there. Which he will, eventually.

There’s no doubt in Tetsurou’s mind that someday he will move in with Kenma. It’s the biggest reason why he hasn’t bothered to get an apartment of his own. There’s no point. The only question is when that day will be. Tetsurou is waiting for Kenma to get comfortable with the idea, going at Kenma’s agonizingly slow pace. He wants Kenma to feel safe and comfortable. He doesn’t mind waiting, it’s just that these days he comes over to Koutarou’s place and is constantly reminded that Koutarou’s home life is the domestic bliss that Tetsurou is still waiting for.

Instead of watching as Akaashi gives Koutarou a soft look Tetsurou directs his attention to the window and the world beyond. It gets dark early in late November and the twilight makes Tetsurou uneasy. Kenma definitely should have been done with work by now.

Tetsurou pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time only to find that he has a text he somehow missed. It’s from Kenma.

Lazy Kitten (17:25)  
mari had to go out of town i have the boys at my place today. Sorry

Tetsurou frowns at his phone. Tsukishima Mari is Kenma’s only other close friend and the reason that Kenma was able to get such a good job so quickly after graduation. She’s older than Tetsurou but she and Kenma get along well and ever since her divorce Kenma has helped her out by babysitting her sons.

Me (18:38)  
u want help? i can come over

The response is immediate.

Lazy Kitten (18:38)  
please

Tetsurou looks up to see Koutarou already making his way towards the kitchen. Akaashi is listening attentively as Shouyou tells him all about his day in the vague language shared by two year olds everywhere.

“Sorry, bro,” Tetsurou calls after Koutarou. “I’ve gotta split.”

Koutarou stops, pouting back at Tetsurou. “But I thought you and Kenma were having dinner here tonight?”

Tetsurou wiggles his phone. “Something came up.” He turns back towards the door only to see Shouyou’s watering eyes.

“Kenma-ojichan isn’t coming?”

Tetsurou runs his fingers through Shouyou’s crazy curls. “Not today, sorry kiddo. He’ll come over soon.”

Shouyou’s bottom lip juts out and Akaashi taps him on the nose. “Come now, none of that. Say bye nicely.” 

“Bye bye, Tetsu-ojichan,” Shouyou says, sulking. Tetsurou tries not to laugh.

“Bye, Shou-chan.”

Akaashi gives Tetsurou one of his half smiles and waves with the hand that isn’t supporting Shouyou against his hip. Koutarou makes his way back over to give Tetsurou a hug.

“See you guys later,” Tetsurou says and then he’s out the door.

It’s chilly and Tetsurou has to try to start his car twice before it catches. The sound of the fans pumping in hot air is music to Tetsurou’s ears. It takes him fifteen minutes to get to Kenma’s house and he enjoys the way the warmth seeps into his bones. Koutarou and Akaashi’s place is always kept colder than Tetsurou likes it.

Kenma’s place is not an extremely nice house but it’s also not terrible. It’s comfortable, homey. Tetsurou parks next to Kenma’s used hybrid car and heads inside where, for the second time today, a two year old runs into him and grabs him around the knees.

This one is a bit bigger than Shouyou and has honey colored hair that is cropped a lot closer to his scalp than Shouyou’s wild curls. This is the first time since Tsukishima Kei was a baby that Tetsurou has seen him and he’s become a cute toddler.

Kenma’s living room is trashed. The couch has been pushed to one side to make room for the ridiculous number of children's toys. It looks like Koutarou’s living room, which wouldn’t be alarming except that Kenma values a certain level of neatness. He like soft things, blankets and cushions, but no material clutter. Now there are legos, action figures, and toy trucks. About four meters away is a pile of stuffed animals, atop which sits the older Tsukishima brother, Akiteru. 

He squints at Tetsurou. “You’re not Okaachan.”

Tetsurou puts a hand over his heart. “Young man, how dare you hurt your mother in this way.”

Akiteru giggles and then claps a hand over his mouth like he doesn’t want to laugh at Tetsurou’s jokes. Tetsurou gives the entire room another once over but he doesn’t see Kenma hidden among the toys.

“Where’s Kenma?”

Kei lets go of Tetsurou’s knees and looks up at him with wide brown eyes. “Kenma-san went potty.”

As if on queue Tetsurou hears the a toilet flush and the door to the guest bathroom opens. Kenma walks out looking tired, his phone in his hand. He was probably playing some game on it in the bathroom.

“Hey,” Tetsurou says.

“Hey,” Kenma responds.

“Hey,” Kei chirps.

Tetsurou glances down at Kei, amused. Kei smiles up at Tetsurou. He’s adorable.

“Where’d all this stuff come from?” Tetsurou asks Kenma.

Kenma looks around his living room, his face crumpling in something between distress and distaste. “Mari dropped it off with the boys along with a lot of clothes. She says she might be gone all weekend.”

Tetsurou whistles a low tone. Usually Kenma goes over to Mari’s place to babysit and only for a few hours at a time. It’s a huge part of why Tetsurou hasn’t seen Kei for over a year. “Might be, huh?”

Kenma shrugs. While they’ve been talking Akiteru has climbed down from his pile of stuffed animals and wandered over. He gives Tetsurou a calculating look, or as calculating of a look as a first grader can give.

“You’re really tall. How old are you?”

Tetsurou grins down at him. “Can you guess?”

Akiteru contemplates this. “I’m six and I’m this tall,” he says, moving a hand over his head to show Tetsurou. It almost makes Tetsurou laugh because it’s the international sign for something going over someone’s head. “You’re way taller than me so I bet you’re sixty-two.”

Kenma rolls his eyes. “Akiteru, he isn’t sixty-two.”

“I’m totally sixty-two,” Tetsurou says, his grin widening. “you’ve revealed my secret.”

Akiteru grins back and does a little fistpump. Kenma gives Tetsurou a dead-eyed stare. Kei frowns up at Tetsurou. 

“What’s sixty-two?”

“I am,” Tetsurou declares. Kenma shakes his head and starts making his way towards the couch.

Kei nods his head rapidly. “I’m Kei, sixty-two-san.”

Tetsurou can’t hold it in any longer, he bursts out laughing. He vaguely hears Akiteru correcting Kei, telling him that it’s a number and there are over a hundred of those and that it’s how many years Tetsurou has been alive. Kei takes this in with a serious frown, like he’s trying to memorise everything his brother says to him.

Over at the couch Kenma shoves a few action figures to the floor. They bounce once on the carpet before settling.

“You’re the worst,” Kenma says as he gets comfortable on the couch where the action figures used to be, curled up with his feet tucked under him.

Tetsurou chuckles. “You love me.”

Kenma just smiles in response.

Kei gets Tetsurou’s attention. “I’m two.”

“So you are,” Tetsurou agrees.

“What’s your name?” Akiteru asks, tilting his head to the side.

“Kuroo Tetsurou,” Tetsurou answers.

“I’m Tsukishima Akiteru,” Akiteru says, “do you wanna play legos with me?”

“Sure.”

So they do. Kei mostly ruins Akiteru’s creations but Akiteru lets him do it with only occasional complaining. They play legos until eight thirty at night, when Kenma snaps awake from where he had been dozing on the couch to usher the kids off to bed in the spare bedroom. After reading them a bedtime story about a duckling that is actually a baby swan Kenma and Tetsurou are child-free for the rest of the night.

Tetsurou enters the kitchen to find Kenma already making his nightly cup of hot chocolate. He drops a kiss on Kenma’s forehead and Kenma drops his head onto Tetsurou’s collarbone, abandoning his hot chocolate for cuddles. Tetsurou is happy to comply, wrapping his arms around Kenma and holding him close.

“Sorry,” Kenma says into Tetsurou’s shirt.

“For what?” Tetsurou wonders. In his arms Kenma shrugs with his whole body.

“We had plans for dinner at Bokuto’s.”

“It’s fine,” Tetsurou assures Kenma. “These things happen.”

Kenma pulls back and sighs. He runs a hand over his face and then turns back to his hot chocolate. Tetsurou opens the freezer and pulls out two frozen meat buns. They prepare their food and drink in comfortable silence and reconvene on the couch.

Kenma is already playing his PSP when Tetsurou makes it into the room. Absentmindedly Kenma shifts slightly when Tetsurou walks over to make room for him and then shifts slightly so that he’s curled up against Tetsurou once Tetsurou sits down. 

Tetsurou peers at the game that Kenma’s playing over his shoulder. His little character on the screen does a backflip to avoid the swipe of a black and red patterned dragon’s huge claws before darting back in to shave off a few more hitpoints.

“You’re not doing a lot of damage,” Tetsurou notices.

“I’m a little underleveled,” Kenma admits. “I just didn’t want to grind in this zone anymore.”

Tetsurou watches absentmindedly as Kenma continues to painstakingly shave off hitpoints a few at a time. When the dragon is nearly dead it roars and a short cutscene plays that heals the dragon back to full health. Kenma huffs an irritated breath but keeps right on shaving hit points off the dragon’s rejuvenated total.

With a yawn Tetsurou checks the time only to find that it’s already almost ten o’clock. He had worked an early shift today, the lone security guard for the opening and first half of a small jewelry store’s day downtown, and then spent a lot of energy chasing little kids around. Now he’s paying the price.

“You can stay here tonight, if you want,” Kenma says without looking up from his game. He’s nearly beaten the dragon through sheer patience and persistence. “I think I still have one of your shirts in the bedroom.”

“Okay.”

Kenma does not beat the dragon that night but he comes close.

…

Waking up in the same bed as Kenma is something that Tetsurou will never get tired of. It’s another one of those things that Tetsurou does more often than not and yet is craving to do every day. There’s something about waking slowly on a Saturday or Sunday morning with Kenma still curled up into his side and sunlight peeking in around the blackout curtains that speaks to Tetsurou. It’s always a good day when Tetsurou starts the day with Kenma.

This Saturday he does not wake up slowly.

“Kenma-san,” Akiteru stage-whispers. Tetsurou lifts his head and cracks an eye to see Akiteru hovering at the bedside. “Kenma-san.”

Kenma makes a grumbling noise and burrows into Tetsurou’s ribs.

“Kenma’s sleeping,” Tetsurou stage-whispers back. “What is it kid?”

Akiteru bites his lip. “Kei wet the bed.”

Tetsurou glances at the clock. It’s almost five in the morning. Kenma makes another grumbling noise into Tetsurou’s shirt that sounds suspiciously like “It’s Saturday.”

It’s not like Tetsurou can just leave it so he slides himself out of bed. Kenma chases his warmth and then opens his eyes when he doesn’t feel Tetsurou in the bed anymore. His annoyed expression almost makes Tetsurou laugh.

“Sorry, lazy kitten,” Tetsurou teases.

“I’m not lazy,” Kenma grumbles, turning himself back over and burying his face in a pillow. Something warm unfurls in Tetsurou’s chest when he sees that Kenma has left his side of the bed empty, like an invitation to come back.

Tetsurou follows Akiteru out into the hallway. As soon as he gets there he doesn’t understand how he and Kenma had been sleeping so peacefully. Kei is wailing and when Tetsurou pokes his head into the guest bedroom he can see why.

Kei’s pants and a large patch of the bed are soaked and the whole room smells like urine. Now that Tetsurou has shaken off some of his sleep he can see that part of Akiteru’s pajamas are wet too. Tetsurou casts his mind back to Koutarou and Akaashi and how they handle it when Shouyou is sick or otherwise covered in something nasty.

“First things first,” Tetsurou decides. “Bath time.”

Stripping Kei out of his clothes and assuring him that he’s not in trouble helps a little bit. What helps more is when Akiteru tells his brother that he isn’t mad at him. Tetsurou runs a medium warm bath in the guest bathroom and ends up with both brothers in it. Somewhere Akiteru gets bath toys and the boys have fun splashing around and having boat races. Maybe they’re making too much noise or maybe Kenma just got tired of waiting for Tetsurou but part way through Kenma pokes his head in the bathroom looking a lot more awake than he did before.

“Did you strip the bed?” Kenma asks, sounding tired.

“Not yet.”

Kenma sighs and disappears from the doorway. Tetsurou looks back to the boys to find Kei tearing up again.

“Is Kenma-san mad at me?”

“Nah,” Tetsurou assures Kei, “he just doesn’t like mornings.”

After a moment of contemplating this Kei says, “I don’t like mornings too.”

Tetsurou chuckles. “I don’t think any of us like mornings, kid.”

“I do,” Akiteru exclaims. Kei gives his brother a disgusted look.

“That’s okay,” Tetsurou says.“No one can stop you from being wrong.”

“I’m not wrong,” Akiteru says, affronted. “I’m an opinion.”

Tetsurou loves kids so much. “You sure are, Akiteru-chan.”

“Kuro,” Kenma complains from the hallway. Tetsurou disguises his laugh as a cough. He knows that Kenma isn’t fooled but the innocent kids accept it at face value.

After the bath there’s no way that the boys are going back to bed so Tetsurou walks them out to the kitchen where he makes breakfast and it’s Kenma’s turn to entertain the kids. He does this mostly by sitting on the floor with them and listening as Akiteru and Kei explain the complicated lives of their superhero action figures and dinosaur stuffed animals. Kenma’s eyes keep sliding back towards his PSP but he never picks it up and Tetsurou can’t help but smile.

They eat breakfast and then Kei wants it to be music time, which apparently involves a DVD about little kids with a magical rocketship that runs on music. It has a lot of long pauses while it waits for Kei to tell it what the next note is and the entire thing is ridiculous. Akiteru isn’t interested at all but he also doesn’t seem to be upset by it being on the TV. Instead he wants to color and he has Tetsurou and Kenma color with him.

Once Kei is satisfied with his musical adventure he wants to color too. Kenma escapes to the couch where he can play his PSP. Tetsurou pushes his shoulder against Kenma’s knee and Kenma pushes back as they watch the boys collaborate on a rainbow dinosaur with minimal fighting.

All day the boys migrate from task to task, sometimes enlisting Kenma and Tetsurou to participate in the latest fun thing. Akiteru practices drawing hiragana characters at random in a notebook for almost an entire hour in the afternoon, Kei builds a dinosaur with legos that looks more like a multicolored alien, and both boys take a nap before dinner.

During this nap Tetsurou faceplants into Kenma’s shoulder while he plays his PSP.

“I have so much respect for Koutarou and Akaashi now,” he tells Kenma’s shoulder. “Kids take a lot of energy.”

“Luckily, we’re giving them back when Mari gets back into town,” Kenma says, frowning at his game when the dragon kills him.

“Giving the kids back is way better,” Tetsurou agrees. “I’m so tired.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Kenma says to his game as he loads from his last save.

Tetsurou looks up at him but Kenma’s face is carefully blank.

“I’ll always be here whenever you want me,” Tetsurou says, trying not to make it seem like he’s choosing his words too carefully. He doesn’t want Kenma to feel pressured.

Kenma smiles, just a little one at the corner of his mouth. Tetsurou opens his mouth again, maybe to ask Kenma what he thinks about them moving in together, but the moment is lost when the kitchen timer goes off to remind them to make dinner.

“I’ll do it,” Tetsurou says instead. “You relax.”

When Tetsurou tries to get up Kenma snatches his shirt collar and presses a chaste kiss to Tetsurou’s lips. On the screen of his PSP the pre-dragon fight cutscene plays out.

“Thank you for coming over, Kuro,” Kenma says, barely a centimeter of space between their lips. What he’s really thanking Tetsurou for is his support, his love, and his understanding. Tetsurou smiles and he knows that Kenma can feel it.

“Always,” he repeats.

Kenma isn’t holding on to Tetsurou’s collar anymore but he doesn’t move, he just lets his lips linger over Kenma’s and his forehead fall until it is a point of contact between their bodies. For a moment they just breathe each other's air and Tetsurou feels tension fall out of both his and Kenma’s shoulders. When he finally pulls away Kenma lets him go. 

The smile Kenma gives him is bigger than before and a little crooked. “Love you, Kuro.”

Tetsurou smiles back. “Love you too, Kenma.”

He makes dinner, he hangs out with Kenma and the boys, he helps to put them to bed. He ends up staying the night again that night, falling into bed beside Kenma and throwing an arm over Kenma’s shoulders. Kenma snuggles into his side and is out like a light, Tetsurou following him soon after.

…

Sunday is a different kind of busy all together. They don’t get woken up pre-dawn by Kei wetting the bed but around seven in the morning Kei and Akiteru do come into the bedroom to ask about breakfast. At first the day progresses similarly to Saturday; music time and lego time and art time. As the day keeps going, however, Tetsurou finds himself meeting Kenma’s eyes more and more, the same question in them that Tetsurou is sure is in his own expression.

Where is Tsukishima Mari?

Kenma starts spending more time on his phone as the day goes, probably trying to get ahold of Mari. Kei remains oblivious but Akiteru starts to send Kenma glances like he is waiting for something. After they eat dinner Akiteru finally lets it out.

“Don’t we have to pack all our stuff?” Akiteru asks suspiciously.

Tetsurou looks to Kenma, not sure how to proceed. Kenma is obviously uncomfortable but he still responds.

“I think you’re staying for one more night, Akiteru. We’ll make sure you get to school tomorrow, okay?”

Akiteru’s face screws up and turns a little red, like he might cry, and Kenma looks to Tetsurou with wide, panicked eyes.

“Tell you what,” Tetsurou says, drawing Akiteru’s attention to him, “how about we pack up all your stuff and then it will be ready to go tomorrow?”

Akiteru eyes Tetsurou with a little bit of suspicion but no outright hostility. Kei is looking back and forth between them like he’s not sure what’s happening, eyebrows drawn together and frown marring his features.

“Okay,” Akiteru huffs out like he’s not happy about it.

It takes them until the kids’ bedtime to get all the toys organized from where they had slowly been spread around the house. There are even a few action figures in Kenma’s office, though Akiteru swears up and down that he didn’t go in there. After the boys go to bed Kenma and Tetsurou settle down on the couch. Kenma hasn’t even reached for his PSP, instead frowning at his phone.

“Did she ever get back to you?” Tetsurou asks.

“No,” Kenma says, “which is really strange. She never takes this long to respond.”

“How many times did you text her?”

“Just the once,” Kenma says like an admission.

“Maybe she missed the text,” Tetsurou says, putting an arm around Kenma. Kenma leans into his body gratefully.

Mari and Kenma have been friends for years and she’s the only person besides Tetsurou that Kenma really clicks with. His worry is natural and Tetsurou massages the back of Kenma’s neck, trying to relieve some of the tension there. It doesn’t work but he can tell by the way that Kenma is holding himself that he appreciates the gesture.

Tetsurou watches Kenma type something up and then delete it several times before deciding on a message to send. He frowns at his phone after the message goes out, like he’s expecting an immediate response. Nothing comes and after a few minutes of them both staring at Kenma’s phone Tetsurou squeezes the back of Kenma’s neck lightly.

“Watching won’t make the message come any faster,” he says gently.

Kenma sighs and gives Tetsurou an irritated glance but he doesn’t refute Tetsurou’s statement. Slowly, as if he’s still expecting a message to come through any minute, Kenma puts his phone down and picks up his PSP. His heart isn’t in it and he dies while trying to fight the dragon before even dropping it’s health all the way down once. Kenma keeps trying though and he and Tetsurou don’t give up and go to bed until well after three in the morning.

The next morning is a little hellish.

For one thing, Tetsurou has to turn down a job so he can keep an eye on Kei. Kenma takes Akiteru to school on his way to work but Akiteru is extremely upset about it. He keeps yelling and crying and it makes Kei cling on to Tetsurou’s pant leg and cry quietly in a way that no toddler should cry. By the time Kenma gets Akiteru into his car everyone is looking a little stressed and exhausted, in part because Kenma and Tetsurou ended up getting less than three hours of sleep.

It’s only half past seven in the morning. Mari still hasn’t contacted Kenma.

“Why is Niisan crying?” Kei whispers after Akiteru and Kenma finally leave.

Tetsurou looks down and considers Kei for a moment. On one hand Kei is only two and shouldn’t be made to deal with stress like this. On the other hand Tetsurou isn’t a huge fan of keeping him in the dark.

“He misses your mom, kid.” Tetsurou settles on at last.

Kei frowns and thinks about this for a moment.

“I miss her too but she’ll be back,” Kei says with terrifying amount of certainty.

Tetsurou chuckles and ruffles Kei’s hair. “That’s good. Until then, it’s music time.”

Kei’s entire face lights up in a grin.

…

Tsukishima Mari doesn’t text Kenma back or turn up that day. She doesn’t turn up the next day either, nor the next. Akiteru goes from regular tantrum throwing to generally sullen, Kei takes to always keeping the front door in his sightline, and Kenma goes from anxious to angry to worried out of his mind.

Tetsurou is exhausted. Keeping Kei entertained is getting harder and harder as his generally positive outlook on the situation is slowly drained by the days without phone calls. On top of that, Tetsurou’s turned down so many jobs this week that his boss is starting to get annoyed and he knows that the paycheck he’s going to get from the agency is going to be pathetic. He’s also running out of clothes.

He’s always kept a few spare changes of clothes at Kenma’s house out of convenience. A few extra shirts, an extra set of jeans, a handful of underwear. He’s starting to have to wear his clothes twice and he has two fewer pairs of underwear than he will need to make it to Kenma’s usual laundry day. The boys are in the same boat and Tetsurou is starting to wonder how purposeful this disappearing act of Mari’s is since she sent the boys over with almost a week’s worth of clothes for a short weekend.

By dinner Wednesday night Tetsurou is starting to wonder if he should do a load of laundry just to get by when his mother calls to ask him if he’s ever coming home. Tetsurou’s gut twists and he looks to Kenma who shrugs without meeting Tetsurou’s eyes.

That strange awkwardness between Tetsurou and Kenma is back. It only shows up when they dance around the issue of Tetsurou moving in and he’s not completely sure what to do about it. Tetsurou and Kenma have always just understood each other, like their relationship is a fact of the universe, and this ever growing feeling of unsureness is making Tetsurou uneasy. He’s off balance by the way that Kenma avoids the subject, by his own anxiety about putting pressure on Kenma, by the way that Koutarou and Akaashi wake up next to each other every day as easy as breathing and they haven’t even known each other as long as Tetsurou and Kenma have been officially in a relationship. The problem with the slow slide of inevitability, Tetsurou thinks, is that all progress blurs together until it feels like no progress is being made at all.

Kenma needs his space, Tetsurou reminds himself. Kenma is a solitary person and he has never been a big fan of dealing with people on a regular basis. Perhaps the awkwardness is because Tetsurou is overstaying his welcome.

Tetsurou lets his mother know that he will be home after dinner and he ends the call as Kenma shoots him a sidelong glance. For a long moment there is silence. It’s the kind of silence that obviously wants to be broken and yet feels unbreakable.

“I could use your help with Kei tomorrow,” Kenma says at last to the stove.

“I could come back over in the morning,” Tetsurou offers, “but at some point I’ve got to work.”

Kenma nods. “I’m sorry. Mari should be back soon.”

Tetsurou bites his lip and considers Kenma as Kenma stirs the curry. He looks tense, but he’s looked tense since Sunday. There’s something more to it right now though, something in the sharp line of his chin and the hunch of his shoulders and the narrowness of his eyes. Something happened today that has to do with Tsukishima Mari.

“Maybe we should file a missing person report,” Tetsurou tries.

“She’s not missing,” Kenma snaps, “she’s coming back.”

“She could be hurt somewhere,” Tetsurou says in a gentle voice. “If we file a report it could help her.”

Kenma’s face twists into a scowl and his slams the spoon on the lip of the pan to flick the excess curry off with more force than necessary. There’s a moment of silence after he does it where neither of them move. Kenma knows that Tetsurou knows that something is up and that he’ll wait patiently until Kenma tells him what it is. Tetsurou knows that Kenma knows this and Kenma knows that Tetsurou knows that. On and on it goes, the depth of their ability to read each other after years and years of being on the same wavelength on display in this one interaction.

After that silent moment all the air rushes out of Kenma in a heavy sigh. “They told me at work today that if no one can get ahold of Mari by Friday she’ll lose her job.”

Tetsurou takes a deep breath in and holds it for a few seconds before letting it out. The reason Kenma works at that company is because Mari works at that company. There’s nothing stopping Kenma from staying there if Mari is fired for her disappearing act but Tetsurou can tell that it would still feel wrong to Kenma, like something’s missing.

“We should file a missing person report,” Tetsurou says with more conviction. “Maybe the police can help find her and she will come back faster.”

Kenma frowns into the curry. “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Tetsurou agrees.

…

When Tetsurou gets back to his bedroom in his mother’s house he finds it looks empty in a way that isn’t just his lack of being in it. It’s like the last week of being at Kenma’s has sucked the life out of his room somehow. Tetsurou is pretty sure that life is at Kenma’s house now.

As he stares at the ceiling above his bed that night his phone chimes and Tetsurou nearly knocks something over in his haste to get it.

He’s sure it’s Kenma, asking him to come back to help deal with something that happened with the boys, but it’s just Koutarou. With a sinking feeling Tetsurou realizes that he hasn’t texted Koutarou all week.

Owl For Brains (23:11)  
u doing ok bro?

Me (23:11)  
sorry some stuff came up at Kenmas

Tetsurou drops his phone onto the pillow next to his head and sighs. This week has felt like a year and yet it’s gone by so quickly. 

His phone dings again and Tetsurou fishes it from the crook of his shoulder where it’s slid down.

Owl For Brains (23:12)  
wanna talk about it?

Tetsurou considers his phone for a moment. It’s getting late and he has to be up early the next day to help Kenma with Kei. He feels both exhausted and on edge. After thinking it over he types out a quick response.

Me (23:13)  
not right now maybe later. Gotta get some sleep

After a second Tetsurou sends another text.

Me (23:13)  
thx bro

The response is quick.

Owl For Brains (23:13)  
ok good night bro. Love u

Owl For Brains (23:13)  
no prob. Its what bffs are for

Tetsurou grins at his phone before texting Koutarou back his own good night and then putting his phone back on his bedside table. He tries to get comfortable so he can get some sleep but his bed feels narrow and cold, the sounds of his house having become unfamiliar and the shadows cast by the streetlight outside on his wall having become distracting. When his alarm clock wakes him at five am he rolls out of bed cursing and spends long enough in the shower that he’s almost late getting back to Kenma’s house.

Walking through Kenma’s front door is a mistake. The living room is filled with the screams of the damned, or at least the screams of a two year old in the height of a meltdown. It’s underscored by the sobbing of Akiteru, who huddles in the corner with his hands over his ears like he can’t bear to listen to his brother’s screams. Kei himself is laying on the floor, throwing his limbs every which way and screaming himself hoarse. His face is red and blotchy and he probably can’t see anything with the way that his eyes are shut tightly.

Kneeling next to Kei with his hands hovering in the air like he isn’t sure what to do is Kenma. His eyes are bloodshot and his face is pale. He looks exactly how Tetsurou feels except twice as pissed.

“Tetsurou,” Kenma says when Tetsurou walks in. Tetsurou can barely hear him above the din but he knows that this qualifies as an emergency for Kenma. Kenma never uses his first name like that otherwise, instead always referring to him with the color that makes up the first part of his last name.

Tetsurou is by Kenma’s side quickly, pressing a hand into Kenma’s and squeezing his fingers reassuringly. Kenma squeezes back.

“What happened?” Tetsurou asks, his voice pitched low to make it easy to differentiate from the high pitched screaming.

“It’s been like this since you left, more or less,” Kenma responds.

Tetsurou nods his understanding and tries to grab hold of the squirming two year old. His first few tries are unsuccessful but he finally manages to haul Kei into his lap and that makes Kei slow down for a moment. His screams get less intense, his thrashing less emphatic, and after a moment he actually grabs hold of Tetsurou’s shirt and sobs into it. 

His crying now has words, garbled by tears as they may be, and they make Tetsurou’s heart twist. “Don’t leave me.”

Tetsurou gently pats Kei on the back and shares a look with Kenma that tells him that Kenma heard it too. Kenma’s expression is cloudy, upset, and Tetsurou is pretty sure that his is the same.

Behind Tetsurou someone moves and Tetsurou tenses before remembering Akiteru. He glances over his shoulder to see that Akiteru has raised his head. The tears are still flowing freely down his face but the heavy sobbing has slowed for Akiteru too.

Kenma starts to stand up and suddenly Akiteru is pushing himself up and into a run. He launches himself at Kenma, still crying, and Kenma barely catches him with a look of confused wariness on his face. Kenma lets himself sit back down, arms still wrapped around Akiteru to support the six year old’s weight, and looks over Akiteru’s head towards Tetsurou. Tetsurou looks back.

“I don’t think anyone is going to work or school today,” Tetsurou says.

Kenma just sighs.

…

Getting to the police station that afternoon turns out to be a challenge. Kei doesn’t want to let go of Tetsurou, crying and screaming whenever Tetsurou tries to put him down, which makes it very difficult to get in the car. Eventually Tetsurou manages to get to a compromise; he sits in the back seat with Kei and Akiteru, Kei between them and Tetsurou’s knees pushed to his chest to fit in the back of Kenma’s hybrid. It’s an uncomfortable ride but when they get to the police station Kei and Akiteru both perk up. The police, apparently, are cool which makes Tetsurou think that he should put on his security guard uniform when they get home and watch the boys lose their minds.

Filling out a missing person report turns out to be a multi-step process involving a lot of questions along the same vein as ‘why did you wait so long to file a report?’ and a lot of suspicious looks in Tetsurou’s direction. At one point a lawyer is called because the children have to go to their legal next of kin or otherwise appointed backup guardian until Mari can be located. This turns out to be Kenma, which means that he and, to a lesser extent, Tetsurou have a decision to make.

Kenma stares at the paperwork in his hands that would officially have him take responsibility for Tsukishima Akiteru and Tsukishima Kei. Said boys are currently distracted by a police officer who seemed happy to play with them after they started getting antsy only a half hour in. It’s been three hours now and Officer Narita has Tetsurou’s eternal gratitude.

“Hey,” Tetsurou says, bringing Kenma’s attention up to him, “you’ve been staring at that paper for a while now.”

Kenma sets the paperwork down on the desk in front of him slowly. “I don’t know if I should do this.”

Tetsurou frowns. “Why not?”

Kenma shrugs and then hunches in on himself a little, like having his shoulders up to his ears mid shrug had been comforting and he wants to prolong the experience. He won’t meet Tetsurou’s eyes when he says, “Not good at it.”

“I disagree,” Tetsurou says immediately.

Kenma gives Tetsurou a funny look, tilting his head slightly like a curious cat. It makes Tetsurou want to smile.

“Listen,” Tetsurou says, “maybe you’re not going to play make-believe with them but when they talk you listen and they like that. It’s really important for kids to feel listened to, that’s what I think anyway. Plus,” Tetsurou lets himself grin, “I will be around to play make-believe with them, won’t I?”

Kenma looks down at his hands, his fingers twitching like he wants to be playing some kind of game. “They like you better.”

“If you left them alone with me they’d scream just as much,” Tetsurou argues. “Besides, all that means is that I’m the fun, irresponsible one. Like Koutarou.”

That pulls a smile out of Kenma as he rolls his eyes. “Neither of you are irresponsible.”

Tetsurou elbows Kenma lightly. “And if you asked the kids I bet they’d say they want to stay with you.”

Kenma turns his head slightly to peer at the boys out of the corner of his eye. After a moment of examining them he sighs. “You’ll help me, right Kuro?”

“Of course,” Tetsurou agrees immediately. “I could never leave my lazy kitten to brave such life experiences alone.”

Kenma rolls his eyes again and gives a short exhale out of his nose that could have been a snort but was closer to a huff. Carefully, Kenma picks up a pen and turns back to the paperwork. After another moment’s deliberation in which his eyes flick from the paperwork to Tetsurou to the boys and back to the paperwork he starts to fill it out.

It takes a while for Kenma to get the paperwork filled out. At some point Tetsurou joins the boys and the police officer on the floor. He pulls out his security guard ID for the boys to stare at. They are suitably impressed, Akiteru even going as far as to ask Kenma if he knew that Tetsurou was like a policeman but not.

Eventually the boys get hungry and that makes them cranky. When they finally leave it’s past naptime and dinner time and edging into tantrum time so they drop by McDonalds on the way home and grab some of the crappiest food Tetsurou has had since he graduated high school. After that the boys go to bed early, Kei making Tetsurou promise to be there the next day. Then Kenma and Tetsurou retire to the couch where Kenma fails to beat a dragon until they decide to go to bed.

The next morning Tetusrou is woken up with a phone call from the agency and he really can’t afford to keep turning down jobs so he agrees to check in at the mall to fill in for one of their regular after hours security guards who is out of town for a few days. He’s lucky that being a night guard means that he doesn’t have to leave until the boys are in bed.

Somehow, over the course of the next week Tetsurou and Kenma manage to buy stuff for the boys to replace all their items from the Tsukishima house that are now possible evidence in a missing person case. They do this between Tetsurou working nights, Kenma working days, and taking care of the boys in between. Tetsurou is exhausted by the end of his six day stint as a mall night guard and he sleeps for all of the following Saturday, thankful that the boys have finally stopped getting antsy every time Tetsurou isn’t in the room with them.

At some point he’s going to have to go home again. He can almost feel his mother wondering where he is from halfway across town, not to mention the fact that he’s been staying at Kenma’s house almost exclusively for the last two weeks. He doesn’t live here, he reminds himself this on Sunday even as he puts his electric razor back on its stand and cleans his shavings from around the master bathroom sink. His toothbrush is in the cup, his favorite brand of chips are in the pantry, his laundry is haphazardly thrown in the washing machine with everyone else’s, and he doesn’t live here.

Tetsurou eyes the pillow arrangement on the king sized bed he and Kenma sleep in every night. On one side, Kenma’s two pillows stacked neatly in the best possible way to support his neck as he sleeps curled up on his side. On the other, Tetsurou’s mountain of pillows that he shoves his face into every night.

It sure looks like he lives here. Hope is a dangerous thing and Tetsurou needs to kill his before it ruins something.

Maybe he’ll go over to Koutarou’s today and remind himself of this with some distance and then go back to his mother’s house and sleep in a bed that doesn’t smell like he and Kenma have been sleeping in it together for their entire lives. 

After deliberating a moment Tetsurou snatches his phone off of the bedside table on the side of the bed Kenma always leaves open for him and sends Koutarou a quick text before heading out into the rest of the house.

“Hey,” Tetsurou says when he enters the living room. Kenma looks up from where he’d been supervising Akiteru trying to put together a puzzle and Kei trying to take apart that same puzzle. Akiteru doesn’t seem too irritated about it, always willing to humor his little brother. 

When Kenma looks up he freezes and his eyes sweep over Tetsurou multiple times quickly, analyzing or memorizing. Tetsurou only then realizes that he hadn’t put on a shirt before leaving the master bedroom. He lets a smirk pull at his lips and makes a show of eyeing Kenma right back. Kenma narrows his eyes up at Tetsurou, his face practically screaming his disapproval of Tetsurou’s teasing. Tetsurou turns his smirk into an outright grin.

“Hey,” Kenma responds to Tetsurou’s greeting.

Akiteru looks up and beams at Tetsurou for a moment before returning to putting the pieces Kei has taken out of the puzzle back.

“I think I’m gonna go to Koutarou’s today,” Tetsurou says, “and then maybe I’ll go home for the night.”

Kenma just kind of blinks rapidly for a moment, like whatever he was expecting it wasn’t that. “Oh.”

“You’re leaving?” Akiteru asks, his head snapping up. There’s accusation in his voice and expression. Kei looks up and then follows Akiteru’s eyes to Tetsurou. When Tetsurou smiles down at them Kei’s eyes fill with tears.

Tetsurou lowers himself into a crouch next to the kids.

“I have to go home at some point,” he says.

“That’s not the way it is like,” Kei complains, tears threatening to overflow any minute.

Tetsurou pushes his lips together and tries to figure out what Kei means. Two year olds have very limited vocabulary and Kei often struggles to put words to his ideas, especially when he’s upset. Before Tetsurou can get very far though Akiteru shuffles over and grabs Tetsurou’s arm.

“This is your house.”

Tetsurou bites his lip and doesn’t look at Kenma. “Kid-”

“Kuro-san lives with us,” Akiteru insists. Kei starts to cry and Tetsurou instinctively reaches for him, gathering the toddler up in his arms to try and comfort him.

Tetsurou finally lets himself look at Kenma.

Kenma is looking down at his hands, playing with his cuticles. It’s a nervous habit he only does when something is really bothering him. Tetsurou’s heart sinks at the thought that this is making Kenma uncomfortable. The privacy that Kenma guards so jealously has already been broken by the boys unexpectedly moving in, Tetsurou doesn’t want to push it. Tetsurou turns back to Akiteru.

“I’m sorry, Akiteru-chan, but you don’t get to decide that,” Tetsurou says as gently as he can. “This is Kenma’s house.”

“What if I asked you to stay?” Kenma asks suddenly, his voice rushing out of him. Tetsurou almost jumps. He turns to Kenma wide-eyed to see that Kenma’s still playing with his cuticles.

“You don’t have to,” Tetsurou says when he finds his words.

Kenma finally looks up and meets Tetsurou’s stare head on. “But I want to.”

Tetsurou’s heart feels like it’s going to beat out of his chest and he holds Kenma’s gaze as Akiteru cheers. In his arms Kei pushes his face into Tetsurou’s bare chest and wipes his snot all over Tetsurou’s freshly showered skin. 

He keeps his eyes on Kenma and ignores the boys for just one moment. This is a moment for Kenma and Tetsurou alone and he says, “Okay.”

Kenma visibly relaxes, a small smile flickering at the corner of his mouth. With sudden clarity Tetsurou wonders how long Kenma has been wanting to ask him that.

How long have they been waiting for the other person to feel comfortable? In hindsight it’s stupid, they’ve always been comfortable with each other. Of course they’re comfortable, complimentary in every way. Tetsurou grew around Kenma and Kenma grew around Tetsurou and now there are places in each others lives only the other person can fill.

Kei gives a little wail in Tetsurou’s arms, bringing Tetsurou back to the real world. Tetsurou looks down at him and runs a hand through his honey colored hair.

“Hey, don’t cry Kei-chan. I’m not going anywhere.”

Kei looks up at him. “You said you can’t stay.”

“I was wrong,” Tetsurou says with a shrug. Akiteru laughs and then starts crying. Kenma reaches for Akiteru hesitantly and is instantly hugged.

“I don’t want Kuro-san to disappear like Okaachan,” Akiteru says.

“He won’t,” Kenma says with conviction. He meets Tetsurou’s eyes over the heads of their respective Tsukishima kids. He looks so sure of himself that Tetsurou’s heart swells.

Tetsurou smiles, suddenly not wanting to leave Kenma and the boys. “How do you all feel about making a day trip?”

Akiteru perks up in interest. Kei blinks at Tetsurou like he’s not sure what Tetsurou just said. Kenma sighs but his smile reveals his agreement.

Tetsurou pulls out his phone and sends a follow-up text to Koutarou.

…

Akiteru absolutely adores Shouyou. Kei may or may not be jealous. It’s hard to tell with two year olds; he might just be hungry.

Tetsurou chuckles into Kenma’s shoulder as he watches Koutarou sit on the floor and attempt to breach sibling envy with enthusiasm and a toy train. Shouyou seems to have no problem with this idea, he is Koutarou’s son after all, but Kei isn’t having it. He won’t let go of Akiteru’s arm and if possible he hovers between Akiteru and where Tetsurou and Kenma sit on the couch.

“Let’s have a vote to see which way the train will go,” Koutarou coaxes.

“Yeah!” Shouyou agrees.

“Yeah!” Akiteru agrees.

“Fine,” Kei agrees.

Tetsurou snorts at the grumpy tone of voice Kei uses, so unlike Akiteru and Shouyou’s excitement.

“Don’t jostle me, Kuro,” Kenma warns, his fingers working furiously at the buttons to dodge the dragon’s tail.

“Sorry, Kenma,” Tetsurou says, grinning. He considers being extra distracting, maybe kissing Kenma’s cheek or neck or shoulder, but he dismisses the thought. Kenma’s been working on the dragon for two weeks now and his frustration is almost palpable.

The mid battle cutscene plays on the screen of the PSP and the dragon returns to full health. Kenma sets it down for a second to wipe his hands on Tetsurou’s jeans before returning to the game.

“I’m glad you were able to come over today,” Akaashi says from his place in a nearby armchair with a book he hasn’t turned a page of in a half an hour.

Tetsurou meets Akaashi’s eyes and then glances pointedly at Koutarou. Akaashi nods, a small smile on his lips.

“Oh no,” Koutarou says to the kids, moving the train along their chosen path, “the train is going to crash!”

Akiteru and Shouyou gasp. Kei frowns.

“Sounds like the conductor is a skillet driver,” Tetsurou comments, censoring the curse with a cooking term as he had promised to do almost six months ago when Shouyou had learned the word fuck from his video game potty mouth.

Koutarou glances up to give Tetsurou a sharp grin. “I’d say he’s more of a salad driver.”

“A shallot driver,” Tetsurou shoots back.

“A saffron driver.”

Akaashi rolls his eyes and returns to his book.

“A stovetop driver.”

“A swordfish driver.”

“A s- ow.” Tetsurou jerks a little when Kenma elbows him in the ribs. Koutarou starts laughing. “Kenma,” Tetsurou complains.

“Kuro,” Kenma responds, deadpan as his fingers move at the PSP controls.

“But what about the crash?” Akiteru asks Koutarou, poking at Koutarou’s ribs where he rolls around on the floor with laughter.

“It goes boom and then whoosh,” Shouyou exclaims.

“No,” Kei says crossly from where he’s half hiding behind his brother, “it stops.”

“It does both,” Akiteru decides, “it stops and when it stops it goes boom.”

This makes Shouyou happy, he practically beams at Akiteru, but Kei’s face crumples in distress.

Well, it’s time for damage control.

“Hey, bro, isn’t it time for you to make dinner?”

Koutarou is spread eagle on the carpet, catching his breath from his laugher. “Yeah, I could get started.”

Tetsurou shrugs, careful not to jarr Kenma too much. “I guess this means playtime is over,” Tetsurou says in his most serene voice.

“Nu uh,” Kei and Shouyou say at the same time. Shouyou smiles at Kei like this proves that they are best friends. Kei does not share this sentiment. 

“Yes, it does,” Akaashi says. This makes Shouyou’s shoulders droop but he doesn’t argue.

Tetsurou disentangles himself from Kenma carefully so he can help put the train set away. By the time he’s done he’s had to comfort Kei down from a near meltdown because Akiteru gave Shouyou a piggyback ride and convince Akiteru somehow to not do it again without actually telling him that he can’t give Shouyou a piggyback ride. It’s a complex process and settling down next to Kenma on the couch again is a relief.

He glances over Kenma’s shoulder to see that Kenma has almost defeated the dragon. It has a tiny fraction of its health left and Kenma has been keeping well out of the way of some of its more devastating attacks and spamming potions like there’s no tomorrow.

Carefully, Tetsurou sets his chin down on Kenma’s shoulder. Kenma hums but doesn’t ask Tetsurou to move and Tetsurou is able to watch as Kenma manages to chip away the last of the dragon’s hitpoints.

The end of fight cutscene plays and Kenma relaxes against Tetsurou.

“You did it,” Tetsourou says the words into Kenma’s hair.

“Yeah,” is all Kenma says back.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Xeylah, Steph, Bean, Momo, Lee, Quinn, and Dory. Your willingness to put up with my brainstorming and need for validation while writing things is amazing. Also special thanks to a few mutals on tumblr, most notably slothy-girl and dumbass-kagehina, who are always chatting with me and keeping my mood and motivation up. A thousand thanks.
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](https://talkativelock.tumblr.com) for more multifandom nonsense and screaming in the tags. My update schedule is also kept there in case you want to know what I'm working on next.


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